Issue 32, Autumn 2012

Editor's letter

Apart from providing a showcase in which to display some of the highlights on offer, Bonhams Magazine likes to surprise readers. Perhaps even change firmly held views. This issue is no different. For instance, take the Mongols. I had them pigeon-holed as marauding savages who destroyed any vestiges of culture with a scary variety of weaponry. But when Colin Sheaf, Chairman of Bonhams Asia, told me about an exquisite Yuan jar in the Fine Chinese Art Sale that had been created because of the Mongols' rule, I thought we should know more. We asked John Man, the author of Kublai Khan and Xanadu, to explain how this infamous dynasty made exquisite ceramics rather than smashing them.

Another artifact – an Enigma machine on offer at Bonhams Knightsbridge – prompted another question. Was the Battle of the Atlantic really won with the help of a wooden box and a roomful of lateral thinking codebreakers? We called upon historian, Andrew Roberts for an expert explanation.

This issue also offers an insight into the taste of three notable Englishmen. The Duke of Devonshire inherited Chatsworth from his father in 2004. Since then, he has breathed fresh life into the house, and last month, he unveiled a museum-standard gallery in which to display his Old Master drawings. Celia Lyttelton went to visit the Duke to hear his views on mixing the old with the new.

Hamish Bowles, International Editor of US Vogue, and Gordon Watson, the celebrated art dealer, are fully paid-up members of this school. Both have endured considerable hardship in order to acquire their collections – as a student, Hamish ate nothing but Ryvita for a month so that he could afford a print by Etienne Drian. At Bonhams New York, they have joined together to hold a sale of the many things they have bought over the years. As with most collectors, one suspects it is so they clear space to buy even more... Enjoy the issue.